1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to static electricity monitors. More particularly, the present invention comprises a static electricity monitor comprising a walking footpad electrode and a handrail electrode.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Static electricity represents a serious threat to electronic components, which may become damaged during the manufacturing process when the personnel handling these components are not effectively grounded. It is desirable to ground not only the bodies of the personnel working with these components, but their clothing as well, as charge can build up in either location. To this end, the personnel typically wear a protective dissipative garment that is grounded, for example, by wearing footwear having electrically conductive soles that dissipate the charge to the work surface.
If the dissipative garment is not worn correctly or has a defect, it may not properly ground the person. To address this problem, special equipment has been developed to test the person before entering the work environment to ensure they are properly grounded by the dissipative garment. For example, the person may stand on a first electrode (in the form of a footpad) while contacting a second electrode with their hand. A small current is generated and the resistance measured across the electrodes to measure the resistance of the person. If the resistance is too high or too low, an alarm notifies the person to take corrective action.
A problem with the prior art “standing” footpad technique for testing a dissipative garment is the bottleneck it creates when a large number of personnel are entering the work environment, for example, in the morning or after lunch. It requires each person stop at the testing station, step on the footpad, place their hand on the second electrode, and then wait for the test result. This bottleneck can significantly reduce productivity of the work environment, particularly when there are a large number of people attempting to enter the work environment at one time.
There is, therefore, a need to reduce the bottleneck associated with testing the soundness of dissipative garments worn by personnel entering a work environment.